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Author 



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Imprint 



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Bi^YLOR XJISriVERSITY. 



ANCTTERED ^ 



.■i^^o.^HE^ DRESS 




BY 



J. B. BAYLOR, C.E.,B.S.,LL.D 

Assistant in U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. 



DELIVERED AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY, WACO, TEXAS, 
APRIL 20, 1903. 



EDUCATION OF THE MASSES IN ITS RELATION TO 
PRODUCTION. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

JUDD & DETWBIIvER, PRINTERS 

1903 



I 



oi 






BAYLOR UNIVERSITY 



ADDRESS BY J. B. BAYLOR. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I have traveled several thousand miles from a distant city 
to honor, as far as I can do so, by my presence the generous 
and public-spirited gentlemen who have made possible these 
useful and handsome additions to the buildings of Baylor 
University. 

When I think of what this University has done and is 
doing for the State of Texas, when I think of its relation- 
ship to the great Baptist Church of America, of its honored 
Board of Trustees, President, and faculty, its fine body of 
alumni and its corps of students, I feel that I should indeed 
be ungrateful if I were not proud of the fact that such a 
University bears my family name. 

At the outset of my address I wish to call your attention 
to the striking fact that many of our American universities 
and colleges bear the names of individuals who gave a com- 
paratively modest sum to found these institutions, and that 
this has not prevented public-spirited citizens from giving 
millions to these universities and colleges named after indi- 
viduals long since past away. The oldest of American uni- 
versities, which has the largest number of students, with the 
exception of Columbia University and the University of 
Chicago, and the largest total annual income of any American 
university, bears the name of John Harvard, and yet public- 



spirited citizens, not only in Naw England, but from all parts 
of the world, have showered gifts upon it. Amongst its bene- 
factors are emperors and kings, the proudest names of New 
England, of the East, and of the West. Yale, named in honor 
of Elihu Yale, has also received millions in benefactions, 
and counts amongst its largest benefactors the Vanderbilt 
family. Brown, the Baptist university of New England, has 
received magnificent endowments from many private indi- 
viduals, among them the public-spirited Baptist, Mr Rocke- 
feller, who belongs to New England scarcely more than he 
does to the great Southwestern section of these United States. 
I can only trust that Mr. Rockefeller and others may follow 
the noble example of the Carrolls, and do for the great uni- 
versity of the Southwest, Baylor University, which bears the 
name of a private citizen, what has been done for Harvard, 
Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, and other 
colleges and universities named for individuals. 

Another striking fact is that many of our American uni- 
versities which have done the greatest work and have been 
most influential educationally have been under denomina- 
tional control. To strengthen my position I need only men- 
tion Harvard, Yale, Brown, Princeton, and the Universit}^ 
of Chicago. 

Though I cannot claim the honor of being a Baptist, I am 
glad that Baylor University is under the control of a denom- 
ination which has over four million five hundred thousand 
communicants in the United States alone, and over nine 
million in English-speaking communities. The man for 
v^hom this University was named, although by family tra- 
dition an Episcopalian, firml}^ believed that in no part of 
our population was the spirit of republican institutions so 



By transfer 

FEB 4 1916 



firml}^ planted as in the Baptist population of America. In 
their church government they have exemplified the loftiest 
Christian spirit and the highest examples of republican 
government. In consequence of the large numbers of Bap- 
tists in America, this University will always command the 
loyal support of a people devoted to their church and its 
institutions and influential in the communities in which 
they live. 

Some one may object to denominational colleges; but 
where can the control of the university be more safely placed 
than in the hands of the clergy and laity of a great religious 
body ? Abuse of power over the minds of the young, through 
the agencies of denominational universities and colleges, is 
impossible in such a country as ours, where so many different 
denominational colleges compete one against the other. 

No great institution can be built up unless a well-estab- 
lished policy in regard to control and management is not 
only adopted but maintained, and such stability in this 
country is almost impossible except through the agency of 
some religious body of devoted loyal workers. Stability in 
our State universities is very difficult to obtain on account 
of our ever-changing political parties. The uncertainty as 
to control and as to the amount of annual State appropri- 
ations has had an unwholesome influence upon many State 
universities. It has prevented benefactions from public- 
spirited men, because these universities are supposed to be 
supported adequately by the different States. 

It seems to me that the duty of the State is to educate the 
child when it is too young to educate itself by its own efforts. 
You do not then destroy that self-reliance which is so essen- 
tial to success. The State ' should endeavor to elevate the 



mind, the heart, and the character of the child, and it should 
also train the hand, the eye, and the body when in their 
formative period. To the university should be left the edu- 
cation of those who have proved themselves at school worthy 
of a university education, and those who are willing and 
able to pay for it, either in money or in work. 

If you will bear with me, I hope to be able to prove, by 
an array of carefully collected statistics, which cannot be 
brushed aside, that no investment has ever yielded such 
rich returns, and that, too, in every civilized State and 
country in the world, as money spent in primary and in- 
dustrial education for the masses. These facts and figures 
are so striking, Mr. President, that it is but just that I should 
say something in advance as to their credibility. 

No more careful, conscientious statistician, so acknowl- 
edged by political friend and foe alike, has ever graced the 
halls of our Congress than the late William L. Wilson, a 
devoted Baptist and a kinsman of Judge Baylor's. Mr. 
Wilson told me that for accuracy of statement the English 
statistician, Michael G. Mulhall, was the most trustworthy 
of all writers, and to Mr. Mulhall I give full credit for the 
facts I wish to bring before you today. Mr. Mulhall, by a 
laborious and exhaustive system of computations, has com 
piled the average yearly earnings per inhabitant in dollars 
and cents for every civilized country in the world, and also 
for the different sections of these United States. 

You may tell me that countries differ so largely in density 
of population, in age, in opportunity, in fertility of natural 
resources, and in race that it is not fair to so compare people, 
but it is a striking fact that density of population and fer- 
tility of natural resources have no necessary effect on the 



prosperity of a country, or even on the rate of wages. Scot- 
land and Ireland are almost equal in the number of inhab- 
itants per square mile, and yet the wealth of the former 
country exceeds that of the latter 60 per cent. England 
has three times as dense a population as France, and wage s 
are nevertheless nearly equal in the two countries. Spain is 
thinly and Italy thickly populated, and both countries are 
desperately poor, w^hile Belgium has the maximum and 
Sweden the minimum population per square mile, and both 
are remarkably prosperous. New England has no rich ore 
or coal beds, it does not raise a pound of cotton, it is poor in 
natural resources, and the average yearly earnings per in- 
habitant is $349, while our dear Southland is rich beyond 
the dreams of avarice in coal, in iron, in petroleum, in cotton, 
and in other natural resources, yet the. average inhabitant 
only earns $110 per year. 

Mr. President, from Mr. Mulhall I have collected in a table 
the average yearly earnings per inhabitant for almost every 
civilized country in the world, and even a casual student 
will find in this list the most striking differences in the earn- 
ing capacity of the various nations. Density of population, 
age, race, fertility of natural resource, cannot explain these 
remarkable differences. To what, then, can they be due ? 
Fortunately Mr. Mulhall has solved this question by collect- 
ing for us also the percentage of adults in every civilized 
country who are so ignorant that they cannot even write 
their names, and the amount of money spent per inhabitant 
in every civilized country in educating the masses. 



We find: 



Countries. 



England. 

Scotland 

Ireland . 

United Kingdom 

France.. 

Germany 

Russia 

Austria- Hungary . . . 

Italy 

Spain 

Portugal 

Holland 

Scandinavia 

Belgium 

Switzerland .... 

Norway and Sweden 

Denmark 

Danubian States 

Greece 

United States 

Australia 






II 64 



"2 

^ CO j^ 

fin 



96 
97 
85 
94 
95 
99 
22 
69 
56 
42 
30 
90 
99 
83 
99 
98 
98 
24 
30 
83 
90 



-^1 
I'll 

m ^ C 



1190 00 

225 00 

100 00 

180 00 

]56 00 

123 50 

47 50 

83 50 

70 00 

77 50 

68 00 

129 00 

120 00 

141 50 

116 50 

103 00 

136 50 

64 50 

62 50 

220 00 

256 00 



I 



Diflferent sections of the United States. 



<p o 
a o 



^ ^ r- 



< 



New England States 

Middle States 

Western States 

Southern States 




$349 00 
311 50 
230 00 
110 00 



Bear with me while we examine this table. Portugal and 
Greece are two of the poorest countries in all Europe. We 
find that Portugal only spends 10 cents and Greece 44 cents 



per inhabitant in educating their people. Only 30 per cent, 
of the people of either Portugal or Greece can write their 
names. Is it suprising that the average earnings per inhab- 
itant is only $68 and $62.50 a year in Portugal and Greece ? 

The Russian Empire is marvelously rich in natural re- 
sources and in fertility of soil ; it has vast stores of petroleum 
and coal, and every known mineral in its Ural Mountains ; 
yet it is emphatically a j^oor country, with |305 per inhab- 
itant, against $780 in Germany and $1,260 in France. The 
average earning of the people of Russia are only $47.50 per 
inhabitant annually, against $220 in the United States. 
The waste of labor in Russia is prodigious ; men and women 
toil out their lives for a minimum wage, and their existence 
in such drudgery increases the sullen discontent of the people. 
Xo man but a Russian could live on such fare as a Russian 
farmer has. It consists of rye bread and mushroom soup, 
worth 4 cents a day. He lives in a hut 5 feet square, and 
his wife helps him at the plow. Five per cent, of the wives 
of Russia die in child-birth — double the average of the rest 
of Europe. Note in connection with these significant facts 
that only 22 per cent, of Russian adults can write their names, 
and that Russia spends 22 cents annually per inhabitant on 
her schools. 

In Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Spain only 69, 56, and 42 
per cent, of the adults can write their names. These coun- 
tries spend 34 cents, 72 cents, and 32 cents per inhabitant 
on their schools, and the average earnings of their people 
are $83.50, $70, and $77.50 per year. 

Scotland, on the other hand, spends $2.68 per inhabitant 
on her schools, and 97 per cent, of her inhabitants can write. 
Is it surprising that the average earnings of her people are 



8 

yearly $225 per inhabitant, making her one of the most 
productive countries in the whole world ? 

Ireland spends $1.40 per inhabitant on her schools, and 
only 85 per cent, of her adult inhabitants can write their 
names. The average yearly earnings per inhabitant are 
$100, against $225 for Scotland. 

In the face of such facts it. is impossible to avoid the con- 
clusion that the earnings of a people are directly propor- 
tional to the educational advantages. 

The effect of liberal expenditures for public education is 
strikingly exemplified in England, Australia, France, Ger- 
many, Norway and Sweden, Holland, Denmark, Belgium, 
and Switzerland. The people of Australia earn annually 
per inhabitant more than an}^ other people in the world — 
$256 against $220 in the United States — and there is no 
country more liberal in educating her people than is Ausr 
tralia — not even the United States. 

Never in the history of the world has the fact that knowl- 
edge is power been more preeminently true than it is today. 
Labor-saving machines, requiring a trained mind, hand, and 
eye, are used in every department of human endeavor, and 
doom the ignorant man to hopeless poverty. One laborer in 
the agricultural field in America produces as much as four 
do in Europe, and he does not toil his life blood awa}^ as 
does the peasant of Russia, because education enables the 
American farmer to use labor-saving appliances. 

With the aid of steam, one man can do as much as a hun- 
dred and twenty could do in the last century. Steam makes 
for five dollars an article that would cost eight hundred 
dollars if made by hand. 

The ignorant man cannot utilize these great labor-saving 



*i 



agencies, and consequently the ignorant man is a poor pro- 
ducer. 

Many of the states of Central and South America and 
India are desperately poor compared with the United States, 
Canada, and many of the countries of Europe, and in all of 
the states where this is true we find that the people of these 
countries are kept in ignorance, and that education for the 
masses is at a discount. 

The most prosperous countries in South America are 
Argentina and Chili. This can be easily explained when 
we find that Argentina and Chili spend annually on their 
schools 84 cents and 70 cents per inhabitant where Brazil 
spends 4 cents. 

It would be very interesting, did time permit, for us to 
trace out, through Mr. Mulhall, the effect of the education 
of the masses upon the transportation, post-office, telegraph, 
and telephone facilities of a people ; upon the circulation of 
newspapers, books, and periodicals, and last, but not least, 
upon the criminal docket of a nation. The facts in this 
connection are as significant as anything I have presented 
to you today. 

It is a well-recognized fact amongst all political economists 
that the social, moral, economic condition of a people is 
largely determined by the yearly earnings per inhabitant, 
and this we have seen depends directly upon the education 
of the masses. 

Let us examine the effects of education upon different 
sections of our own dear country, and I am done. 

The president of the University of Tennessee tells us that 
the average annual productive capacity per inhabitant in 
1899 was $260 in Massachusetts against $116 in Tennessee, 
2 



10 

Massachusetts spent $12,261,525 more upon her public schools 
in 1898-'99 than did Tennessee. The people of Massachu- 
setts earned in 1899 $403,869,824 more than the same number 
of people did in Tennessee. We may reasonably conclude, 
therefore, that twelve millions invested in superior education 
yields $400,000,000 a year. 

As I have already shown, the average yearly earnings per 
inhabitant in New England is $349, against $110 in the 
Southern States. This means that if the average yearly 
earnings per inhabitant was the same in the South as in 
New England, the annual income of the Southern people 
would be increased thousands of millions of dollars — a sum 
very many times in excess of the annual value of our cotton 
crop. 

It is but right that I should call your attention to the fact 
that one-third of the population of the South consists of illit- 
erate negroes. This fact also has a marked effect upon the 
average yearly earnings per inhabitant in South Africa, 
which is only fifty-five dollars. There also 55 per cent, of 
the population consists of illiterate negroes. 

Mr. President, the hope of the whole South centers in this 
State of Texas. Only New York, Pennsylvania and Illi- 
nois, and Ohio surpass it today in population. It is merely 
a question of time when your State will no longer stand 
even as low as fifth in the family of States. How about 
education in this State of Texas ? 

It is a very gratifying fact to me to find that in Texas 
amongst the native-born whites of native parents in the total 
number of males of voting age, numbering 458,863, only 
5.3 per cent, are illiterate, while amongst the foreign-born 
male whites of voting age, numbering 85,773, 25.4 per cent. 



11 

are illiterate. In the whole United States amongst the 
native-born male whites of native parents and of voting age 
0.8 per cent, are still illiterate. 

So in Texas we find that the native-born white of native 
parents is already above the average for the whole United 
States in education. This, of itself, clearly proves that the 
State of Texas is fully alive to the necessity of superior edu- 
cational advantages. The effect of education upon the 
people is shown in your annual production of cotton — far 
greater than any other State in the world. It is shown in 
your wheat crop, in your vast herds of live stock, in your 
output of lumber and oil, and in the enormous increase in 
manufactories of late years. It is shown in your transpor- 
tation facilities, w4th 9,886 miles of railway — greater than 
those of any other State, save only Illinois and Pennsylvania. 
It is shown in the prosperity and happiness of your people. 

One of the most artistic, beautiful, and costly memorials 
ever erected by the hand of man, the Taj Mahal, stands at 
iVgra, in northwestern India, a marvel of Indian architecture. 
Twenty thousand men were engaged for twenty years in 
erecting it, and it is so beautiful that Lord Roberts has said 
that it was worth a trip to India to see it alone. 

Mr. President, if Shah Jahan had devoted the vast sums 
of money which he expended in erecting this mausoleum 
and other monuments in India to the education of the people, 
India would not today be a country of wretched poverty, 
with starving, plague-stricken inhabitants. So in thinking 
of all that education means to a people we say from our 
hearts all honor to the Carrolls for their generous benefac- 
tions to Baylor University. 

I thank you for your kind attention. 



' •' ''■'■■.I / ■'..%:>•>) 



PPMSsr^rSiS?! 



